


Dwalin and Nori

by Judayre



Series: Pair and Gender Challenge [4]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Gender binary is for wimps, M/M, tagged in chapters, writing challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-30
Updated: 2014-04-11
Packaged: 2018-01-17 15:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1392592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Judayre/pseuds/Judayre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>4 shorts from different universes where Dwalin and Nori interact.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please read [the explanation](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1145580/chapters/2319756) if you haven't already.
> 
> This chapter is from the Modern AU, late March 2013. There is mention of hiding learning differences and feelings of shame around them.

They walked out of the theater laughing, fingers twined together. It was late March and they just got more and more comfortable together as their dates grew in number. They called and texted daily and managed to see one another at least once a week. They'd had ten official "dates" and any number of casual meetings. They went for drives, met each other for a quick coffee, met at functions the Durins held and Nori's family was invited to.

Nori had picked the movie, but Dwalin had enjoyed it just as much. They were talking about it as they walked down the road and toward Nori's house. And it was so comfortable that he didn't hesitate to smile up at his boyfriend and say "You should read the book. You'd like it."

Dwalin's good mood vanished as abruptly as if it had never existed. Nori reeled from it and tried to backpedal instantly. They never talked about Dwalin's reading problems but Nori knew about them nonetheless - had known since their first date. And now he had just done what he had sworn he wouldn't and caused Dwalin grief over it.

"We can get the audio book. Plenty of people listen instead of reading. I do it sometimes when I'm grading tests."  
He was only glad his hand was still securely in Dwalin's. There was a chance to fix this, no matter how much he had out his foot in his mouth.

Dwalin looked down, scowling fiercely at the ground, and muttered something Nori couldn't understand. He didn't have to say anything about it, because Dwalin cleared his throat and muttered louder. This time Nori could make out "read to me" in it.

He couldn't help it. He goggled. And Dwalin didn't look up, but he knew. His face grew red and he didn't look up from the ground.

"When Bilbo tutored me in high school he read to me," he said, voice still a mutter. "I liked it."

Nori felt like something in him would burst, and he sidled closer to slip his arm around Dwalin's waist. "Of course I will," he said when he finally trusted his voice.

Which meant that when Dori got home hours later he found the two of them asleep on the couch. Dwalin's head was in Nori's lap, and the book had dropped off the side when Nori's hands grew lax with sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dwalin learns more about Nori's past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has discussion of underage sexual situations that basically amount to child prostitution and induced miscarriage.

It wasn't usual for Dwalin to get home and not have Nori greet him at the door. No matter where she was, Nori always heard him - her hearing trained to be so much more acute than his own by her years as a thief. To have to go searching her out put him on edge. And then to find her staring blankly into the fire as if she had been told her life was over.

"What's wrong?" he demanded, falling to his knees in front of her.

It took time for her eyes to focus on him. "I went to Óin," she said in a voice that wavered. He nodded, reaching for her hands. He knew she had been feeling sick, but to have her so upset it had to be awful. She was silent a long time and he saw how she shivered, saw the sheen of tears in her eyes, and feared the worst.

"I have your child," she said finally.

It took a moment for her words to register, and then joy blazed in Dwalin's heart. He pressed his hands to her belly despite knowing it was too early to feel anything. And then her sadness filtered through his joy. He had thought it must be something horrible. What could have made her feel this way?

"I shouldn't," Nori said, stumbling over her words as Dwalin had never heard. "This shouldn't be happening. I-- there was no choice! I was young and poor. We couldn't... So I...." She buried her face in her hands and her last words were a wail. "You don't get a second chance!"

He had her in his arms in an instant, wrapped safe and tight away from the world. And she clung to him desperately while he rocked her.

"How young were you?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Ori wasn't twenty."

Which meant she wasn't fifty. Something in his stomach turned at the idea that someone that young would have to make such a decision. "Tell me," he said softly, trying to keep from making demands but knowing she had to talk about it.

"We didn't have much. Only Dori was old enough to get work and mother was dead and Ori was always sick. And there was a man. I don't remember his name, I don't think I ever knew it, but he gave me pretty things and I could sell them and bring home food. Dori never asked where the money came from. I think he already thought I was stealing."

Dwalin felt sick. He knew there were monsters among Men who preyed on children, but he hadn't thought that kind of crime happened among Dwarves. He stroked Nori's hair, holding her closer as if he could protect the child she had been. "And when..?"

She shuddered. "I was so scared. We didn't have enough for the three of us, I knew we'd never have enough for four. And if Dori knew what I had been doing.... He still thinks I started stealing before I did. There was no one I could talk to, no one to give advice. But there are some things everyone knows about what to eat or not eat when you're carrying."

Dwalin rocked her, kissed her hair. Her hands were twisted in his shirt so much it hurt, but he would never say anything about it. He wouldn't deny her anything that would help her. Not ever. Not even if there were many who would say the choice she had made was wrong and that a child was always a blessing.

"I ate marrow until I was sick," she whispered. "I thought I was going to die I was so sick. I thought it might be right for me to die with what I did." She shivered closer into his arms and it was only that closeness that let him hear the next words. "I wanted to die because of what I did."

He had no way to answer that except to kiss her again. To hold her and not let go because he had known of her thievery when they got into this and nothing would make him leave her.

"If you scorn Mahal's gift you're never given another," she said, and now her voice was a whimper. "I shouldn't be with child now. He should hate me for the one that never lived."

And sometimes Dwalin proved he was Balin's brother by having the right thing to say. "He must have understood what you did like I do," he said softly. "Perhaps he held that child close until you were able to bear it."

He could see the desperate hope in her eyes. "And I love you," he continued, resting his head against hers and dropping his voice intimately low. "And I will love you and this child with the whole of my being even when I am in the Halls of Waiting."

He pressed a hand to her belly again, feeling no less joy. Feeling more, perhaps, at this unlooked for miracle and the gift they had both been given.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now with [art](http://asparklethatisblue.tumblr.com/post/84355724163/sketch-for-judayres-drabble-here-i-dont-even) by the amazing [Blue Sparkle](http://asparklethatisblue.tumblr.com/)!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dwalin gets an offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possibly in the same verse as [this chapter of Bilbo and Dwalin](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1145580/chapters/2319793), but can be read on its own.

"Hello, pretty lady."

Dwalin frowned as she turned. Pretty was a word she had never heard applied to herself except by people trying to bribe her. She knew she wasn't pretty. She was almost as tall as a small Man. She was bald on top, although she had covered that with tattoos. She had scars, and part of an ear bitten off. She was rough and wild and had never looked right in the pretty bits that Dís wore.

Dwalin didn't _mind_ that she wasn't pretty. The only time she minded was when people tried to get something out of her with lies.

But when she turned around, the hazel eyes roaming her body were appreciative and the expression on the man's face was more than half leer. He wasn't much to look at himself, skinny and average, except his hair. The dark red brown was shaped and braided, full and thick. It looked soft, and her fingers itched to get into it.

So perhaps there was some interest. When she met his eyes she could see that he knew it. And the spark that put into those green gold eyes was enough for her to ease her frown. His grin widened as though he'd won something and he stepped closer, into her personal space. She growled automatically, stopping in surprise when he gave a pleased shiver.

"Nori, at your service." And the way he said it, and the way he looked at her left no doubt what 'service' he had in mind.

"Dwalin," she answered, and though she didn't add 'at yours' he acted as though she had, reaching out and resting one hand lightly on her arm. She looked down at his hand, then at him, and anyone else would have released her. He just shivered again and slid a touch closer.

"You know," he said, pitching his voice soft and intimate. "It can get very cold traveling on the road."

And didn't she know what he was getting at. But she didn't have to make it easy for him, even if she was interested. She shrugged her arm out from under his caressing fingers (when had he started doing that?). "It's lucky I have a warm bedroll, then," she answered.

She turned to find Balin and almost missed the uncertainty that passed through Nori's eyes. She looked back at him, letting her eyes obviously roam him. "But perhaps yours is warmer?" she added, and was pleased to see happiness light up the gold in his eyes as she went to her brother's side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nori isn't very subtle. But I have very little practice with flirting, so....


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dwalin tries to figure Nori out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We once again take a dip into the Hudson. This is the one story of this lot where Dwalin and Nori aren't a couple and have no likelihood of becoming so (if anyone, Dwalin is with Bilbo in this one).

There was a red haired thief who was hard to catch and harder to hold. The red hair was braided and styled meticulously, even when guards had to be asked for help, but said absolutely nothing about the thief. There were no clues about the thief's family, deeds, interests. Nothing to tell anyone who he was. Or if he was male, female, both, or neither.

Others who were caught and knew the thief were no help. Some said he, some said she, some just called the thief "the pretty one with the clever hands."

It was probably a sign that Dwalin wasn't a good guard that the first thought on seeing Nori son of Kori among the ones Thorin had gathered was _at last_. At last there would be an answer.

But there was none. Balin called everyone lad regardless of gender. Kíli called the thief she, leaning to whisper to his brother about _all of the adventures she's had, Fíli! _but Kíli had a fondness for redheads and a preference for women, so there was no surprise there. Bofur seemed to be of the opinion that the thief was everything and nothing at the same time, alternately using every pronoun in existence.__

__Even the family was no help. Dori pointedly avoided using any pronoun when ze spoke. Ori just happily called the thief _my sibling_ with no indication that he ever wanted to use pronouns at all._ _

__It took hours to corner the thief, who was half drunk and at ease on the bench outside Bilbo's door, blowing smoke rings out into the night sky with what smelled like Bilbo's pipeweed. There wasn't even a flicker of concern when Dwalin sat down._ _

__"You must be something." Not the best opening, but Dwalin was half drunk as well._ _

__"I'm something, all right," the thief replied with a leer and a giggle. Dwalin's frown stopped that instantly. "I don't see why you care," came the half muttered and resentful follow up._ _

__"Because those inside are saying every possibility there is, and it's not right."_ _

__The thief snorted. "It doesn't matter." Dwalin frowned again, but this time the redhead didn't back down. "It doesn't change me. When Men talk about you and how 'he's little but he's strong' does that make you more male than you are?"_ _

__Dwalin growled softly at the accuracy of the insult that Men thought was a compliment. "Of course not. They're Men. What do they know?"_ _

__"Exactly," Nori answered, smiling beatifically and waving a pipe Dwalin was sure had been stolen. "What do they know?"  
"But among Dwarves you shouldn't be misrepresented," Dwalin insisted._ _

__Nori leaned back against the wall and shrugged. "Let them say what they want. Sometimes they're right." And apparently the thief was the worse for drink, because the words kept coming. "Some days I do my face up proper and get my hair in crowns and lace, but I always take it out before anyone else sees because they'll think the wrong way about it. Because maybe the next day I want it in daggers and iron or in nothing at all. But you can't do that, see? So I leave it all out and just let everyone say what they want."_ _

__Dwalin was treated to a bright, brittle smile. "And now you'll turn into Dori and tell me I must choose and I'm a failure for not choosing and no wonder I'm a thief if I can't even make the easiest choice of what I am." But Nori leaned closer and tapped Dwalin on the nose with the pipe, and Dwalin was drunk enough to let it pass. "But even the amazing Dori is wrong sometimes, because that isn't an easy choice at all. Pick one and all the other options are gone. And I hate to choose, so I let everyone else do it for me. I'll be a woman for Kíli, and a troubled lad for Balin. I'll be whatever Bofur wants from moment to moment, and a no good thief for you."_ _

__And this time the smile was teasing and almost happy. And Dwalin frowned, because no one should let others choose the very foundation of who a person was._ _

__"It doesn't change who I am," Nori confided, leaning close enough that they were both breathing the smoke from the pipe - Dwalin's own, it turned out. "I'm always _Nori_."_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd just like to point out that I had this plotted, if not written, before Blue Sparkle [posted a thing about Dwarf gender](http://asparklethatisblue.tumblr.com/post/82187701877/i-was-having-headcanons-about-dwarves-and-gender), so I'm not stealing, but we have some similar ideas.
> 
> Dwarf gender in the Hudson comes in four flavors: male, female, both, and neither. It is expected that there will be a bit of experimenting in childhood but by age 50 you will settle on one and stay there. Nori didn't and hasn't and doesn't care to, and that is sometimes an issue when Dori gets involved.
> 
> Other bits from the Hudson:  
> [Bilbo and Dwalin](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1145580/chapters/2319814)  
> [Balin and Óin](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1155507/chapters/2366815) (which has the explanation for why I call it the Hudson)


End file.
